Pictures of the Floating World

Program Notes

Amy Lowell’s collection of poems entitled Pictures of the Floating World (1919) is a set of poignant haiku-like works. The title of the book is a literal translation of the Japanese word “Ukiyoe”, which is a genre of paintings and woodcut prints dating back to the seventeenth century. The subject matter of such art works often include landscapes, historical tales, and images taken from theater. In a sense, they are vignettes frozen in time, and Lowell’s poems capture that property magically.

In this eponymous set of songs for soprano and tuba, I have set seven of Lowell’s poems (with an interlude for solo tuba). Like the texts, the songs are brief, and the sparse textures reflect the simple power of the words.

Composer Contact Information

Jessica Rudman

Email: jessica@jessicarudman.com

Website: www.jessicarudman.com

From a Window

Your footfalls on the drum bridge beside my house Are like the pattering drops of a passing shower, So soon are they gone.

Sunshine

The pool is edged with blade-like leaves of irises. If I throw a stone into the placid water, It suddenly stiffens Into rings and rings

Of sharp gold wire.

Meditation

A wise man, Watching the stars pass across the sky, Remarked:

In the upper air the fireflies move more slowly.

A Burnt Offering

Because there was no wind, The smoke of your letters hung in the air For a long time;

And its shape

Was the shape of your face, My Beloved.

A Lover

If I could catch the green lantern of the firefly I could see to write you a letter.

Ephemera

Silver-green lanterns tossing among windy branches: So an old man thinks

Of the loves of his youth.

By Messenger

One night

When there was a clear moon, I sat down

To write a poem

About maple-trees.

But the dazzle of moonlight

In the ink

Blinded me, And I could only write What I remembered.

Therefore, on the wrapping of my poem

I have inscribed your name.

The

II.

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